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29 December 2007

A Christmas Morning Feast

This year we decided to forgo cooking a large and time-consuming Christmas lunch. Instead, we headed to Kirin Restaurantfor a dizzying ten course Chinese banquet but more on that next time.

To tide us over until the lunchtime feast, we opted for a light Christmas breakfast of freshly baked mini croissants served with either raspberry jam or smoked salmon and crème fraiche and a platter of fresh fruit.

Now let me tell you about the croissants. They were incredible...impossibly light, flaky and organic! We bought twenty of the little dough crescents from Vancouver Croissant. Actually, we had intended to buy them but the kind manager, Maged Sedky, wouldn't hear of it and, even though we'd never met before, he gave them to us free as a Christmas present!

The croissants came with some instructions on how to proof them. Proofing is a technique that bakers use to allow the yeast to rise in unleavened dough. The delicate process must be done at room temperature.

According to the instructions, the croissants required about seven to eight hours of proofing. However, if you over-proof them, the pastry will lose it's texture and become bread-like. Or even worse, the dough will begin to sag! Both worrying prospects when the croissants are the star attraction of the show.

A warmer kitchen will need less proofing time while a colder kitchen will need more. Too much air can be a disaster while too little can also end in misery. So you get my point...they're delicate little morsels.

Nic came up with the brilliant idea of putting the croissants in the oven to proof, with the door closed and the temperature off of course and, it worked! I ended up proofing them for 9 hours and in the morning the croissants had doubled in size. They looked like delightful little crab-shaped pillows. They were so soft to touch that I made everyone poke them ever so gently just so I could hear their 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

I baked them for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 325F until their tops were a golden colour. The croissants were a resounding success and every single one was gobbled up.

So I really want to thank Maged from Vancouver Croissantfor his generous spirit and seriously wonderful croissants.

The twenty year-old family Vancouver business supplies many a bakery with its award-winning, gourmet croissants which are carefully made using traditional methods. Only the best organic and natural products are used in production. Vancouver Croissant's are the best croissants in Vancouver. Making them hot and fresh at home on Christmas morning only further improved the experience.

I am a PROFESSIONAL CHEF who trained at Peter Kump Culinary University in Brooklyn, NY. But as I have admitted on my thousands of posts (many under MrsDocChuck, realchiffonade, and dozens of other names), I NEVER learned how to cook rice or to bake croissants.

So i just go down to the local walmart and buy those canned kind.

In fact, for christmas, i cooked my new boyfriend (he's called the MANAGER because he says he manages some girl "singers" i think) some roasted eggplant, some of that fake crab meat (spelled with a "K") and some doughboy croissants.

Amanda, thank you, but really your confidence in me is misplaced: the credit has to go to Maged from Vancouver Croissant. He is a magician!

chiffOnade, I am honoured that you chose to drop by. Croissants are high maintenance affairs and I understand your aversion; however a PROFESSIONAL CHEF such as yourself should find no challenge at all in rice! You really must try it - a whole universe of possibilities will open up for you.

And finally, you are too kind: I would never dream of comparing my poor site to yours, but thank you all the same.

Graeme, thank you so much but, again, Maged's work. I just proof, bake and enjoy!

Lovely croissants - they made my son weep. The croissant is one of his top 5 foods (kinda tough on me, he's only 9). Now to follow your inspiration and find a place like Vancouver Croissant where I can find them locally!

I was searching online to find out where the best croissants in Vancouver are and I came across you blog! I absolutely love croissants and they look delicious. Thank you for sharing! I cannot wait to try them. Are there locations where you can buy fresh ones (ie not frozen ones in boxes)